Dolce & Gabbana couture autumn/winter 2012: The verdict

Lisa Armstrong: 'If you had to re-invent a definition of luxury, one of the most overused sells of modern times, then a double-sided cashmere-tweed with devastating curves over the hips is a good start.'

After 27 years, Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce have achieved a level of commercial and creative success with their ready-to-wear lines, perfumes, cosmetics, sunglasses, bags and shoes that means they can do what they want. And having been everywhere, seen it all and bought the yachts, what they want now is their own couture line, Alta Moda.

Not the modern version of a couture line, which is essentially another branding tool in which far more couture-show pictures are beamed around the world than outfits are actually ordered. This was not about following fashion's 21st-century business procedure - this was about the clients and the clothes (and maybe creating an old-fashioned mystique: the blogosphere had been a-throb with speculation about this show ever since news of it first emerged).

Photo: Jason Lloyd Evans and Greg Kessler courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana have had scores of seamstresses in their new Milan atelier working on this 73-outfit collection for months. Every last millimetre of lace - a Sicilian and Dolce & Gabbana speciality - was handwoven to order, every bead hand-stitched, every mimosa petal hand-painted, every quail's egg-sized jewel real. Some of the chandelier earrings were so heavy they came with hooks to loop over the ear, to avoid tearing at pierced holes. Each reworked vintage hat was a one-off.

If you had to re-invent a definition of luxury, one of the most overused sells of modern times, then a double-sided cashmere-tweed with devastating curves over the hips, but light-as-a-one-ply-jumper thanks to its flyweight internal silk padding, is a good start. Black lace, boned suits with pencil skirts, months in the construction but effortless to wear, are another. The models, radiating that particular Dolce & Gabbana quality of demure (centre-parted chignons inspired by Visconti's 1963 adaptation of
The Leopard
) and sexiness (molto translucency and visible lingerie) threaded their way through the guests who were cluster-seated in the bougainvillea-festooned cloisters of a former monastery.

Photo: Jason Lloyd Evans and Greg Kessler courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana

One by one, the duo's favourite tropes emerged: the idealised Sicilian black-widow silhouette, the embellished silk and velvet kitten heels, the voluptuous floral prints and appliquéd roses, the romantic full skirts and the slinky lace ones.

But the point, as Stefano Gabbana said, "was not to do new, new, new. It was to craft something beautiful, special and unique." What would happen if more than one client fell in love with the same pink lace dress? "First come, first served," he replied firmly.

Guaranteed exclusivity, a degree of secrecy and the time (and zen-like patience) to wait for these beautiful pieces to be made, are three further definitions of luxury. The irony is that in a saturated-celebrity-and-fast-fashion culture, Dolce & Gabbana's bid for slow-fashion, for artistry and for not having to think too hard about bottom lines or the endless churn of ready-to-wear shows, can only benefit their brand.